The Heart and the Shape
by myfailsafe
Summary: AU. Visiting home is never easy, especially when your once best friend shows up after being gone. The once best friend that you realized you had feelings for. Future light SasuNaru. For SpiffyCaptainJ
1. Homecoming

Chapter One: Homecoming

Author's Notes: I know what you're all thinking … again. "Another one? Really? Again? Stop it, and go finish your other stuff." Well, I'm coming along on everything at this point, and this is a gift for my good friend.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the cast and crew. I don't own the rights to the song 'The Heart and the Shape' by 36 Crazyfists either.

For: SpiffyCaptainJ, my JenJen, and my friend. Well, surprise. XD

Chapter One: Homecoming

* * *

It had been a long time since he had been home.

Thirteen weeks he spent getting yelled at. Thirteen weeks he had spent getting pushed to his mental limit. Thirteen weeks he had spent getting pushed far past his physical limit. Four in the morning wake up calls, the fire watch he had been put on for a damn month and of course the unforgettable Crucible.

Ten days at home.

He forgot how to speak for awhile. He forgot how to stand comfortable. He forgot how to do things without being told. Everything was always ending and beginning in 'sir'. Only speak when you're spoken too. Always a proper posture. At ease or attention. Never a hair out of line. Ten days to get back into a routine you signed up to get out of was impossible.

Then he went to where he was stationed. He did his job as assigned, and he kept in shape and trained. He did everything he was supposed to for the years he had been in the core all while his family and few lingering friends stood behind him.

It took him awhile to get in the habit of driving home on weekends from his station two hours away to visit his family and friends. He didn't mind, and actually, it was nice to spend time around non-military personnel from time to time.

It was nice not to hear his Sergeant beg for a fight every five minutes just because 'there was something about his face', and because Naruto refused to take off ranks for a few minutes.

It was nice not to be around a bunch of loud mouth drunks or guys cooing to their girls on the phone. Naruto didn't mind the pranks, hell; he was the one pulling most of them.

So, when Naruto Uzumaki returned home, he was pretty grateful.

A pair of green eyes landed on a bright head of blonde hair and face of tan skin, whisker-like scars painting his cheeks, and unforgettable blue eyes.

She couldn't help it.

"Naruto!"

Blue eyes quickly snapped to the voice that called out his name before arms wrapped around his neck and attempted to strangle him while he tried to fend his friend off.

"Sakura!" He coughed, "You _sure_ you didn't go through basic training behind my back? How are you, the love of my life?"

The girl pulled back with a laugh and a hard smack, "Well _Corporal_, someone has jokes for not coming home in _eight_ damn months!"

The crush had died, but Naruto wasn't embarrassed that he once had it. He still had one of his closest friends after all.

The man waved his hands in defense, "I can explain! Spare me, I beg you. You're scarier than Gunny Frey."

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, "This better be good."

"Well, can we at least go get some food? I'm dying for some junk." Naruto batted his eyelashes, and before the girl knew it, she was leading him towards the nearest eatery.

The blonde tugged on Sakura's pink hair lightly while they waited to be seated, and the girl turned to beat him senseless before he stopped her.

"For someone who wants their hair long, you sure cut it a lot."

The girl giggled, "It takes too long."

Naruto laughed while they followed the host, "Sakura, I do believe you are sounding like me with that patience crap."

The girl let her green eyes roll as they both sat in a booth to face each other, the two of them ordering drinks and attempting to sink into the stiff cushions.

"Alright, let's hear it." She demanded.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am…" Naruto mumbled while scrunching his face up.

The girl sent him a mock salute and a laugh when he straightened in the booth with a goofy face; his tongue hanging out of his mouth and eyes crossed.

The blonde relaxed before squirming lightly, his blue eyes glancing over the table top instead of the menu, "I just…Hmm...Marines can get nervous."

Sakura sent him a small smile and reached across the table and squeezed his hand gently, which made him chuckle, "And my violent friends can be gentle."

"Stop stalling."

The blonde turned to eye the door where they were expecting the rest of their friends to walk through any second, "I heard he moved back."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

_Chili's_ was louder than usual, even for a late Friday night.

Naruto's laugh carried through the place when he retold stories from Boot Camp, and everyone laughed along, barely remembering hearing these stories a dozen times already.

"So here I am, right? The DI's tell us to do the three mile, and of course, they just tell us to run off and play and be good little kids. They give us their stern ass looks like usual, yell at us because they don't know otherwise, and tell us they'll be watching."

"I love this part!" The man next to him cackled.

Naruto reached over a ruffled short brunette hair to his right, "You always do Kiba."

"_So_, we're running – obviously – and I'm just thinking why our DI's are giving our ears a damn break when all of a sudden a damn pinecone was thrown at my head!"

The group laughed loudly, a 'troublesome' thrown in the air which Naruto turned to his left, "No, Shika, "troublesome" is the Gladiator pit. We'll get there." The blonde flicked at his high ponytail with a smile.

"The damn DI's were in the trees, posted up to throw those dastardly cones at our heads. So, of course, when I get home, I'm paranoid. And of all people, who pulled the prank?"

Kiba snickered while he reached across the table to high-five a laughing Sakura who spoke through giggles, "You had it coming! Besides, Kakashi was the one who roped us into it!"

"He was also the one," The dark haired man chimed in with a practiced smile, "that convinced us to send the cards."

The blonde sent his friend a foul look, "Yeah, by the way Sai, I still haven't lived that down."

A giggle lit the air, a blue eyes met light gray, "Naruto, we all were in on it."

The blonde grumbled, "Yeah, Hinata, I know. But cologne laced, guy covered cards sent with poems, love notes, and sexual comments didn't help my stay."

The group roared with laughter while the blonde threw up his hands with a smile at the sound, "I mean really? And Ino! Did you have to take pictures of everyone playing basketball _shirtless_ and send it my way? I thought my damn bunkmate's paranoia was going to be the death of him. Seriously, that poor guy thought I was going to molest him."

There was a snort, "Till he got a card of his own."

Naruto waved the blonde off, "Temari, that's not nice. His boyfriend missed him."

"And then you made a friend." Shikamaru mumbled.

"Would you rather hear about how I get Spartan kicked in the chest?" Naruto chuckled to the bored man next to him.

Shikamaru rolled his head that sat propped on his head, "Maybe."

Naruto turned back to the group, "Okay! So! Here we are at the pit. The same stupid thing you see in all the movies. Man oh man was I pumped right? Everyone was. So we're listening to the DI's yell, like usual…"

"And then you got your ass kicked, brat."

Naruto looked over the wild hair of Kiba to see a large breasted woman with honey eyes and blonde hair, and his smile finally split his face to the painfully limit.

"Granny!"

"Damn you! I'll _destroy_ government property if you call me that one more damn time!" The woman threatened with clenched fists.

"You're just still mad I just so happened to have a picture of you at work, that just so happened to be given to me by Jiraiya, and I just so happened to let it circle around."

The woman growled when the group blinked, not having heard of this, "I knew you two could plot together, but _that-_"

"Is _funny_!" Kiba howled.

Tsunade sat with the group after knocking Kiba around enough to almost get them kicked out, before making up an excuse and setting down.

"_Anyway_," Naruto stressed, eyeing the angry woman who was eyeing a whimpering man, "The DI was like, "I'm guessing everyone here has seen the movie _300_", and everyone nods and does all that manly shit. Personally, for a 'manly' movie, there sure was a lot of guys running around in underwear."

The guys glared, all having seen it, and the girls gave a few appreciated giggles.

"So, the DI asks "What's the best part of the movie?", and all of us surrounding this Gladiator pit are shouting out lines and shit. And this guy walks up to me, and goes, "No! The best part was _'THIS…IS…SPARTA_!" And fucking Spartan kicks me and sends me flying!"

The guys laughed and the girls gave a worried look.

"And I do believe I got a letter about not sleeping do to fire watch because of a careless mistake!"

The blonde turned towards the door to see a wild head of grayish hair that shined with a silver air, and the blonde frowned, "I thought the safety was on! And how to you _always_ manage to show up where we are Kakashi?"

The man shrugged, "I was passing by after helping a stranger jump their car when I noticed my stomach rumbling with-"

"I called him." Tsunade sighed, "An hour ago."

The blonde rolled his eyes, "Late as usual."

"Typical." Sakura muttered, sounding almost exactly like Shikamaru.

Sakura and Naruto were blessed with Kakashi not only as a high school teacher, but having grown up with him living in the neighborhood. They heard the excuses and knew about the tardiness. Sai happened to have his class when he moved to the neighborhood late in their high school career, but he didn't seem annoyed.

So, the man settled in, and they all carried on. They talked about pointless things that had everyone laughing and drove everyone in the restaurant absolutely crazy. The waiter looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion by the time they left, and they just barely heard the unmistakable sound of applause when the last of them walked out the door.

Most went home to turn in and made promises of getting together once again tomorrow when everyone was up and ready. Tsunade left to prepare the kitchen with instant ramen for Naruto that she didn't know she needed to stock, and needed to head to the twenty-four hour store before he got home. Kakashi held up a little more conversation before promising to see him once more before he left again.

Naruto noticed that it was once again just him and Sakura and he sighed with relief once all the chaos died down. He realized he'd soon be home with Tsunade nagging him about things, and yelling at him like no other Drill Instructor could before making it up to him with ramen. He'd be asleep in his own comfortable bed again with his sleep cap.

The girl looked up to him with a worried expression before she shook her head, "Yeah, Naruto. It wasn't a rumor, Sasuke came back."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When Naruto was sixteen, his best friend left.

They were less than friendly friends, but it was all there underneath the insults and the fighting. They knew each other since they were little. It was still pretty fuzzy to Naruto, but he was pretty sure Sasuke was his first friend, and vise-versa. They had classes together starting in their preteens throughout some of high school when he up and left.

No word, no rhyme or reason.

At least to Naruto.

Neji, a mutual friend, told him that Sasuke wanted to go find his last missing relative that had been spotted somewhere, and the blonde could understand. Who was he to argue? He was still hanging on to his, his aunt.

Slowly, days dragged on, then weeks, then months, and a year turned past, and Sasuke didn't come back. Something about that stung. Naruto remembered once saying to Sakura he was his 'most precious person', and he remembered avoiding Sakura like the damn plague after saying it. Not because his pink-hair friend vowed her love for Sasuke every five seconds, no, because something about that seemed different.

It sounded like it meant something more than a friendship. When he analyzed every part of their friendship, the moments he could remember of them together, he realized that it might just be. So he stuffed it down and ignored the feeling.

He tried listening for rumors of Sasuke, wanting to hear if he was alight, waiting to see if he was coming back, but he never heard or saw a thing.

When he was eighteen, he made the choice to join.

He still wasn't sure why. A challenge, a purpose, a desire?

He simply claimed all three when he decided to tell his rather upset aunt and worried friends, but, they soon relented and relaxed and got used to the idea.

Now he was home. Now, he was faced with the fact that Sasuke Uchiha was back in town with him.

* * *

Author's Notes: It's short, and well… short. It's introducing everything.  
I hope no one is getting offended over this, really. I say anything I haven't heard personally. Anyway, I used my friends Boot stories in here, because well, they were funny. I used the least amount of 'Military Slang' as I could. Honestly, I don't want this revolving around his time in the core.  
I know some of you are thinking "Doesn't that mean his hair got cut?" Well, technically, it does. And technically, I'm changing that little regulation. LOL.  
If you have questions, put them in the review, and well, I'll answer them if I can.


	2. Back to Basics

Chapter Two: Back to Basics

Author's Notes: Thank you all for the feedback. I'm not going to try and focus on angst honestly, or else I'd label it like that. It might change to tell you the truth.

For Jen – Here is your Fairy wing wearing, vampire surfing next chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter Two: Back to Basics

* * *

Naruto walked into the mom and pop restaurant early the next morning and groaned. The weekend he comes home and looks forward to sleeping in without his roommate waking him up for no reason whatsoever, here he was, being woken up by Sakura because she could.

Damn women.

Or damn his roommate. Really, Naruto got a little irritated when the bastard would sit there and talk on his phone all loud when he was trying to sleep, so yeah, he went in there and jumped on his bed and yelled at him to get up when the jerk was trying to sleep. What? Marines were Marines.

So, it was only fair that they made life hell for each other for the better part of the day and night till he got a new roommate. Naruto didn't question why, because you aren't allowed, but he wasn't going to either.

The blonde wildly swung the door open and glanced to the counter at the short old man standing behind it and instantly brightened despite the lack of sleep.

"Grandpa Sarutobi!" Naruto twisted around a skilled waitress balancing four plates on her arms, "Man, am I glad to see an ultra familiar face!"

The old man's lips upturned lightly, "Mhm, I'd say the same if a certain young man visited home more often."

"Awe! Come on gramps! Don't! Tsunade is already digging into me like she has to get through me to get to my grave…cut me some slack. I've been calling regularly!" Naruto batted his eyes and the man wheezed out a laugh and patted his arm that lay across the counter.

"It's good to see some things about you haven't changed, dear boy."

"I'm not-"

"Naruto," The man said semi-sternly, "need I remind you how old I am, and how I _watched_ that house you live in get built from the foundation up."

The blonde grumbled, "No sir."

"_No_…" The old man stretched, his eyes twinkling.

"No gramps." The blonde grumbled, still acting childish.

"Now," The man patted the tan arm again, "I'll fix you the regular, because last we talked four days ago you were ready to die for it."

The blonde straightened himself off the counter, "Yes, and would you please double that order with a side of ultra sugary sweet tea. Marines and sugar are like-"

The old man cleared his throat and the blonde grinned, "What?"

"Mhm. Go on, Sakura is back there waiting."

The blonde let out a laugh and tapped the counter, his hand dragging across the familiar counter top that had under that sheen glass:

'_Naruto and Grandpa Sarutobi's place'_

Naruto was no way, shape, or form related to the old man. It was just a very close nit neighborhood that he grew up in. Tsunade lived next door to the old man since she moved into the neighborhood through a friend of hers, and well, Naruto wasn't going to deny endless junk food and a haven from Tsunade's yelling.

The old man used to sit and tell him stories, and eventually Naruto grew fond of harassing his grandson who had grown fond of falling in Naruto's shadow. It was the second family that the blonde wasn't going to deny.

The writing on the counter…well, he always got carried away with a marker.

Naruto walked back into the nonsmoking section to watch Sakura lift her head up from a book and wiggled her fingers at him in a little wave with a bright smile.

He mock-frolicked over to her, working in slow motion skips with pretend wind in his hair that sent the woman in an absolute laughing fit.

"Hottest thing…I've ever…Seen." Sakura managed to get out through her laughter.

Naruto wiggled his eyebrows and deepened his voice, "I can take my shit off and do it again."

Sakura rolled her green eyes with a snort, "Dork."

"So, may I please know why I am here at this crazy hour when I should be saying sweet nothings to my pillow?"

She smiled at him and rested her head on her hand, "And be oh-so-manly in that sleep cap of yours?"

"Hey! Don't you dare insult-"

"I know, I know!" Sakura stressed, eyes closed in boredom.

The two turned to glance at Ino who wore a large smile as she placed Naruto's drink on the table, "Here, sweet tea, too much sugar."

The other blonde said his thanks and they watched their friend hustle back into the flow of work before he turned back to pink hair. "I'm still curious."

"I'll get straight to the point. I want to know why in the hell you didn't come home just because Sasuke Uchiha walked into town. I thought everything that you had going on with whatever you two had going on was done and over with."

Naruto gulped, the thought flicking through his mind, _'Excuses, excuses, excuses…_'

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

So, yeah, he managed to wiggle out of that encounter.

Okay, so, he bullshitted the best a bullshit-er could. First, he was sick. Yeah, Marine under the weather with a little stomach bug or something. Then, his car was broke. Again, and again, and again. It was, technically a new car and she was technically glaring at him getting ready to strike. Then, the _truth_ about a friend who was KIA, and he needed time to himself. Then, magically, on the way back from the memorial service, his car died _again_. He was making a point to get a new car with Sakura standing to hit him when another excuse arose.

The excuse of his phone started to wail.

She knew all of his ringers for all of his friends, and right now, Kiba was calling about who knew what at an obnoxious hour.

Apparently, people didn't like to sleep in on their days off anymore.

The blonde held up his finger before smacking his phone to the side of his head and began chatting away with Kiba and making plans for the whole day, or really, agreeing to go along with the plans that had been made without him.

Naruto hung up the phone and smiled at the girl who had seated herself and was eyeing her fork hopefully, wishing it would find its way up his…, "Well Sakura, I think we'll have to talk about it later."

She sighed, "Fine. Later, we'll talk about your _true_ feelings for Sasuke, and how you avoided him because what happened _years_ ago."  
_  
Two_ people Naruto now had to avoid.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The movies had been fun, he would admit. Trying to find an _entire_ row for the entire group was less than, but he made it work. He talked mostly during the movie, and anyone who bitched at him was laughed at obnoxiously. Shikamaru had fallen asleep, Ino and Sakura fought about whatever they could, and Naruto and Kiba tried to put them up to a cat fight in the parking lot to place bets on them. Temari claimed her and Hinata would be referees, and Sai continued watching the screen, occasionally calling Naruto 'dickless' through the dark for good measure.

They finally found their way to _Outback Steak House_ and flooded into the bar area still talking loudly. Someone grabbed a booth and they all managed to fit inside, groaning and barking at one another while Naruto made his way up to the bar.

He spotted a familiar head of read on a stool, and knew the person _instantly_ and refused to pounce, "Devil Dog!"

Green eyes turned sharply in a glare before they eased at the blonde who took the seat next to him, "Sir, I believe you are more of an 'angry puppy' type, sir."

The blonde laughed, turning to eye the group, "Does Temari know you're here, Gaara?"

He watched for the tiniest, littlest, barely noticeable shift in the eyes and knew there was an answer in the silent man.

"She thinks I'm in Suna, sir."

Naruto rolled his eyes with a huff, "Address me as Naruto, jackass."

Gaara frowned, "Uzumaki, sir-"

"I _order_ you to call me Naruto you asshole." Naruto hissed.

"Naruto, sir, I think-"

The blonde threw up his hands, rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, "No 'sir' E-3, you got that? Or else I swear I will make you lap this building till you fucking cry."

It was silent while Naruto glared and Gaara looked on calmly before he gave up, "Naruto, if you or I get in trouble for this, we are taking off ranks and fighting."

The blonde extended his hand and watched his friend take it in a brief gesture, "That's a deal. Now, drinks!"

"As I was trying to say, Naruto. The bartender has been waiting." Gaara pointed a finger.

"Hn. Dobe."

So, yeah. Looking back on it, time probably stopped. Looking back on it, Naruto probably forgot to breathe, and hell, looking back on it he'd probably send someone else to the bar instead of offering to go himself.

When Naruto shifted his gaze, he was instantly met with pool of dark black. It wasn't like he expected anything different after hearing the old insult. He looked to find Sasuke's black hair was still just barely tinted with the darkest blue in the same awkward hairstyle, and his skin was still just as pale and flawless.

The bastard still hadn't learned to make a facial expression – oh! Wait a scowl. There it was. That was familiar.

Naruto blinked, "You, teme, are a bartender?"

The man refused to roll his eyes, but Naruto could tell he wanted to, "Hn."

"That's fun, you're more social."

"So, what's with the act?" Naruto looked away from Gaara whom he'd been nudging at his joke, "Going for some role?"

"Excuse me?"

"You, a Marine? That's comical."

Naruto had remembered the time in his first year when he got two bases banned from the only bar and grill in a good radius for something stupid. Mainly four practical jokes in a manner of one hour. So, Naruto had a minor flashback of getting dragged out of a place such as this for causing problems.

"What did you just say bastard?"

"You aren't cut out-"

Yeah, here Naruto was, stressing about seeing this raven-haired, dream woven, god worthy man; and then the asshole opened his mouth. First interaction and it was inevitable what came out of it. That's just how they worked. Naruto had avoided coming home for _months_ because of this asshole in front of his eyes, and this guy had the nerve to insinuate that he wasn't good enough to be a Marine.

As the blonde hurtled the bar counter, he just knew, he and Sakura were going to be having another talk. He knew, Kakashi would be somewhere in the corner of the room while Tsunade yelled at him while she cleaned his cuts, he would be cackling and talking about 'young love'. He also knew that Jiraiya would magically show the hell up and give him more of a beating than any Marine or Sasuke ever could for making an ass of himself in public. Grandpa Sarutobi was going to give him that look, that _stern_ look as soon as Naruto walked out of the house that just made the blonde want to hide under a rock.

Absently, as Sasuke landed a blow to his head making a flash of white appear, and Naruto kneed him in the stomach and he heard his friends yelling in the background; he really couldn't help but think how wonderful it felt to have things back to normal.

* * *

Author's Notes: So, technically, my friend got the two bases banned because of going to the bar _drunk_, drinking on someone's bar tab, starting a fight, and two other things that he couldn't remember that was _told_ to him. That didn't seem like Naruto.


	3. Opperation: Communication

Chapter Three: Operation: Communication

Author's Notes: Wow, It seems my motivation for stories is gifts. Anyway, thank you all again.

**For** – Jen, because we're spliftastic.

Chapter Three: Operation: Communication

* * *

Gaara silently took back the 'angry puppy' remark as he dragged the flailing, persistent, and _strong_ – really damn strong – blonde from the place of once was peace.

Firstly, it was pretty hard to explain to any high up that 'yeah, my fist had a mind of its own', or 'it slipped' because you got arrested for a bar fight. So, thinking of his superior who saved his ass and vise-versa, he dragged him kicking and yelling vulgar things that had most women crying.

The red head had been dragged away by Temari once they were somewhere deemed 'safe', and Sakura dug into Naruto like a Tsunade junior.

"What the _hell_ was that?" She screeched at a high level that made him wince.

Or maybe at the balled fist, because she had a vicious right hook that made him cower like a child.

"Did you _hear_ what he said?"

"No, I did not." She cut sharply.

"By the way," He growled, "Did you by chance, know the bastard worked there?"

It was her turn to wince, which the blonde caught, "You _did_? You set me up!?"

The blonde turned slightly to look for Gaara to grab the man and leave, and his eyes fell on him and Temari. Gaara looked, well, blank. Nothing new there. Temari looked broken, and _that_ was different.

The blonde turned back to his friend with difficulty, "Do you know what he said to me?"

"No, Naruto, I don't." She sighed out, shooing everyone away.

"He says it was fucking _comical_ that I was a Marine." Naruto bit.

She groaned, "Naruto…"

"No. Damn it all, no. It is _not_ comical. Fuck him. Whatever the hell we had, whatever the fuck it was when we were fucking teenagers is obviously dead if he says that my biggest damn accomplishment is comical."

"Don't blow things out of proportions Naruto." Sakura tried tenderly.

The blonde sighed roughly, "I'm going to go 'cool down' at home then. By now, Kakashi has magically found out that I have gotten into a fight and has told Tsunade. I can hear the war brewing in Konoha now."

The woman pulled a face, "Fine, but tomorrow you're going out with me."

"Without Sasuke talk."

"Sure." Sakura said sweetly. Too sweetly.

Naruto sighed, turning his eyes to the pair of siblings still far off and yelled, "MARINE! Move it! That's a damn order!"

* * *

Naruto kicked his feet playfully in the air with laughter ringing around him, his hands clinging to his shaking stomach, and his shirt staining from the grass rubbing his back.

He knew, when he finally showed up at home Tsunade would not only drill into him about his summer reading that just _had_ to be started, but pain in the ass grass stains that she couldn't get the hell out.

He just couldn't care less right now.

The last day of Freshman year of high school just finished, exams were done, finals were no more, and he had an entire summer to look forward too. Two whole months of peaceful sleep.  
The blonde's eyes finally snapped open when his laughter died down, his eyes no longer being forced closed, and he was met with a pair of midnight eyes that dazzled him.

"Hn."

Sky blue eyes rolled, "You know bastard, you'd think you'd loosen up now that summer is here."

"Hn."

The blonde flicked out his index finger, making it ridged and now a weapon of annoyance, and began prodding Sasuke's side repeatedly. "Come on teme, one word."

"Dobe."

"Asshole."

"Idiot."

"Jackass."

"Moron."

The blonde cracked a wide smile, "I just got three. Damn, that's got to be some sort of a record for Uchiha's."

The raven scowled, still leaning up on his elbows next to the sprawled out blonde who decided it was a fine day to lay on the large manicured lawn of the Uchiha estate.

"How's Kakashi?" Naruto asked absently.

"Annoying." Sasuke clipped.

The blonde grinned, "It can't be that bad. Your house is big enough to lose Kakashi in, and the pervert is so preoccupied with his damn books…" Naruto sighed.

"What?"

Sasuke sighed lightly. He'd been prying a lot lately, more so now that he'd been hanging around Naruto. He'd been talking more, digging more into Naruto's mind, observing him more, finding out more about him.

And for the life of him, he didn't know why the hell he was doing it.

He now knew the differences between his sighs, and this one, had the slightest tint of something sad.

"Sometimes, I miss them."

Sasuke turned away from the blonde whom he'd been staring at, his long raven bangs tapping his face at the quick motion before he made some sort of noise for the blonde to continue.

"I know you understand. You're the _only_ one who understands. Just…Sometimes I expect to wake up and hear snappish comments and obnoxious laughter. I expect to turn the corner and see bright blonde hair and long red hair. I know they're gone, but sometimes, I just expect it because I want it…"

The blonde sighed, "Sorry, I'm rambling. I know how you hate how my mouth won't shut. I'll be quiet."

Naruto let his eyelids slide close, the color red meeting him from the sun beating down on his eyes, and the silence swept across them for a little while.

The teen snapped his eyes open when he felt something rake through his golden hair, and his eyes snapped over to see Sasuke sitting up. His knees were bent slightly, one elbow resting so his hand could prop his head that faced the other direction.

The blonde sat up slowly, and the hand receded, and Naruto hesitantly scooted closer to his known to be violent best friend.

Naruto's fingers raked through the grass till they tapped Sasuke's where they had landed after retreating, and tan fingers pulled back instinctively before pale ones quickly entwined them together.

Naruto felt his heart erratically beat in his chest and forced the blush away from his face while he stared off in the other direction, his elbow resting on his bent knee and his head in his hand.

If someone would have walked up on them, they'd think they were being punished; looking the other way while holding hands.

Naruto listened to the grass as he heard Sasuke shift closer, his hand barely moving with his body and without knowing what the hell he was doing, Naruto did the same.  
The blonde refused to snort at the scene. The two 'discreetly' scooting closer to each other, holding hands, looking like…

Naruto blinked when a hand grabbed at his face and turned it forcefully but gently, and soon he was facing Sasuke.

Naruto didn't know why he didn't try to fight it when he felt smooth, soft lips press against his own, and he didn't know why he didn't even question it.  
He simply pressed against the warmth, his free hand coming up and resting on a clothed chest lightly.

The two pulled back and their foreheads rested together; waiting for awkwardness to overtake them or sudden realization of _something_ to come forth and they would pull back, walk away and never look back.

It didn't happen.

They sat there, there hands tangled together while their foreheads rested together and their eyes wondered.

Sasuke finally whispered to chase away the silence, "I understand."

For some reason, the blonde felt like it had nothing to do with his deceased parents, and everything to do with himself.

And something about that was the reason he leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

Naruto sat on the front steps of his house after fighting off Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Grampa Sarutobi at once.

His Aunt just _had_ to have everyone over for dinner _tonight_.

So, after Tsunade cleaned his wounds and chewed him out, dug his grave, and just about launched him in head first, Gaara came to the rescue.

Again.

The two leaned back on their hands as they stared up at the sky that was devoid of clouds, Naruto absently thinking Shikamaru was groaning somewhere, and stared at the twinkling stars.

"Why are you in Konoha?" Naruto began.

"You."

The blonde smiled lightly at the short, drone like answer from his close friend. The blonde cooed and elbowed the man playfully, "Awe, Gaa-Gaa, you missed me? And you called _me_ a puppy. Sappy fuck."

Naruto could practically hear him rolling his eyes next to him and let out a loud laugh.

"I have thirty days leave."

The blonde froze stiffly and turned his head to face his long time friend, "You're shipping to fight?"

He watched one stiff nod and swallowed, and then registered why he hadn't told Temari, "You wanted to know how to break it to them?"

Another stiff nod and a slight frown breaking onto his face, "She's upset I didn't tell her I was visiting. Things about calling and meeting up at home or simply meeting here since we were visiting at the same time. She's upset because she knows something is going on and I'm not telling her what."

"You can't be gone for six months without telling her."

The man nodded once stiffly again before looking over to the blonde with a blank face, "How did you tell everyone?"

The blonde leaned forward and hung his arms over his knees and stared off across the lawn with a light sigh, his hand reaching up and running through his hair and rubbing the back of his head before resting again.

"You can't sugar coat it, Subaku. I'm sorry, and I know it's hard. And damn do I know its scary ticking down the days. Tell them, _gently_, but don't lie."

The man shifted next to the blonde. "As in, don't lie about the risks."

"Comfort them when they cry."

Naruto's head snapped to attention when he heard a sigh escape from somewhere that wasn't his own mouth, and saw Gaara rubbing at his neck to ease away the tension that had built up there.

The blonde smiled gently, "Come on _Can Head_, you want me to give you a massage?"

Gaara looked up at him with a roll of his eyes, relief showing through. "No si – Naruto. But how about a grappling match?"

The blonde laughed, "You _want_ me to get in trouble with Tsunade because we tore up her 'precious' lawn." Naruto peaked over his shoulder towards the front door, "Fair enough."

The two snapped up and raced to the middle of the dark lawn, laughter ringing in the midnight air, and grunts soon following closely followed by Tsunade's shrill yelling about her lawn and Marines' that were to be turned into garden gnomes.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Gaara looked across the breakfast table with a smirk, "So, is that bruise from me or Uchiha."

Naruto looked up from his cup of ramen and poked tenderly at his face with a wince, "I don't know. It's all one, big, gigantic beating."

Gaara's smirk grew ten-fold, "You're admitting I beat you?"

"You're not looking so pretty yourself. I almost didn't want to cuddle with you." The blonde chuckled when a piece of fruit went flying at his head.

"What? Embarrassed you're a cuddle-bug in bed?" Naruto practically giggled, "I mean, it was pretty _cute_."

Tsunade walked into the kitchen to find Gaara with a spoon to Naruto's face like a weapon, and somewhere, deep down she wanted to walk away. She knew her nephew probably deserved what he had coming, but, phone calls are phone calls.

"Now kids," Tsunade said gently, and the two practically snapped to attention, "Firstly, more clothes at the table. If one gets violent, I don't want to find random nipples on my floor. Secondly, Sakura is on the phone for you Naruto."

Tsunade turned to her nephew, "Why were you two sharing a bed…still?"

The blonde grinned, "Hiding from the enemy."

"Right. Well. The enemy just so happens to have pictures of your cuddling episode if you two want to piss me off again."

Naruto twitched, "You _evil_ woman."

It wasn't like they meant to sleep in the same bed together. Really, Naruto even made the guest bed for Gaara and all that jazz. After running for their lives from Tsunade and changing into some of Naruto's clothes to sleep in, the two hung out in the blonde's room watching television. When they were younger, Naruto could remember doing this with Temari, Kankuro and Gaara on the weekends when they would be in Konoha for some reason or another.

Naruto thought it was funny when Tsunade went out a got him a bigger bed to hold him and his friends since they just refused to sleep somewhere else.

So, when the two turned on the television, it probably wasn't like they expected anything different. They probably welcomed something familiar.

The blonde glared at the phone after the conversation was over, and looked back at Gaara, "Want to go get more food?"

The red head eyed the blonde for a moment before shaking his head, "No, _abyss_. I'm going to go talk to my family."

Naruto patted his stomach with a laugh, "Alright, alright. Call me as soon as you're done."

"Yes Sir."

"Gaara?"

"Hmm?" The man stopped himself on his way to grabbing a shirt and intent on keeping the comfortable shorts.

The blonde chuckled awkwardly, "Good luck, brother."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Naruto ducked his head from the stern look upon entering the restaurant and made his way to the back to the non-smoking section without bothering to talk to Grandpa Sarutobi. He'd rip him seven different ways from Sunday in one word and half a look.

The blonde looked over his shoulder, making sure he hadn't made Ino follow him with one of her scary woman looks before he turned to where he and Sakura always sat to be faced with something he _never_ expected to find.

"Hey Naruto!" Sakura waved, "Hurry up! We're waiting for you to order."

The blonde's eyes shifted to the raven hair, the midnight eyes, and pale skin that was flawed by markings that Naruto proudly recognized he caused.

Naruto finally made his way to the table and sat across from the pair with an impassive face towards Sasuke and anger towards Sakura.

The blonde twitched when he heard a snort and glared towards the raven haired man who was glaring at Sakura too.

Nothing new.

"So, Sakura. I'm guessing we were both tricked into coming here."

The woman blushed, smiled, and clapped her hands together lightly, "Well, I think it's time you two worked some things out."

* * *

Author's Note's: Naruto's mom's hair… you know what… everyone says different colors. I've heard red more than anything…red sounds good. I'd say her name, but I'm not sure if that counts as some dumb ass spoiler.


	4. Nostalgia

Chapter Four: Nostalgia

Author's Notes: -cracks knuckles- Yeah, I have been busting my ass on my fictions. Enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars...yeah, I made a reference.

For Jen – Cheers for hilarious nights.

Chapter Four: Nostalgia

* * *

"And by chance, what in the _fuck_ do you think me and the teme need to work out?" Naruto crossed his arms angrily.

"Because the dobe and I seem fine." Sasuke growled.

"And you just seem nosey." Naruto hissed.

"Also, like you're plotting something." The raven added.

"Evil, I might add." The blonde drew when he looked around for Ino.

Sakura stood when Sasuke opened his mouth to continue, "I don't want you two leaving till you work _something_ out. I'll be upfront with Ino and Mr. Sarutobi to make sure you two don't leave prematurely. When it boils down to what you need to work through, well, I'd start from trying to get through a conversation without throwing a punch and working your way up."

Naruto turned to follow is friend stomp her way to the front and out of his view before he contemplated risking his life so he could be away from…

The blonde turned to face intense jet black pools that just so happened to be Sasuke's eyes and then he happened to land on a curve of pale pink lips that happened to be the smirk that had etched its way onto the bastards face.

The blonde sighed and stood from his seat and moved to the entryway to the kitchen and disappeared, leaving the raven to lean back into his seat.

Naruto returned a second later and set a mug in front of the bastard and set his own cup down and took his own seat.

"Here, black coffee. Black like your small, evil little heart, and bitter like your personality."

"And let me guess," Sasuke began as he took the coffee gladly, "Something with ten tons of sugar to reflect your future diabetes?"

"It is so good to see that the bastard in you has yet to die, but only blossom like an evil flower straight out of hell itself." Naruto smiled.

The man across from him smirked into his mug, "And it's good to know that you have become dumber by the day, and you're on the brink of-"

"Hi boys." Ino interrupted, seeing the sweet looks on their faces and knowing she needed to swoop in, "What's your order Sasuke?"

"What about the dobe?"

The blonde giggled, "I know his order."

Sasuke snorted, "He's that predictable?"

Ino sighed, looking towards Naruto who had gotten out of his seat without a sound and was looking towards a scowling Sakura and a disapproving Gramps, and mouthing words of help.

"Not in a sense, he just lives for nostalgia."

Naruto made his way back to the table and dumped himself into his seat with a frown – pout – and eyed his cup in hopes it would carry on the conversation for him.

"Well dobe, you seem happy." Sasuke smirked.

"I'd rather do _years_ in the brig than five seconds here with you." Naruto bit.

"Like you could handle-"

Naruto's eyes flicked up and cut off Sasuke's sentence mid way, flashing with unleashed anger, "I've been there, I've done that – less time obviously, and it was damn sure more pleasant. _Now_…"

Sasuke looked away towards a wall, counting something on the tile while Naruto stared down the hall towards the kitchen counting down the seconds for his food so he could inhale it and leave.

The raven took a very quiet deep breath in, making his decision, and finally speaking.

"Why'd you do time in the brig?" Sasuke asked, still facing the wall.

Naruto looked at the man from the corner of his eyes, and without biting out an irrational reasoning for his questioning, he simply answered. "Young Marine. Played around with a stun gun with a group of guys, and well, they frown upon that. Destroying government property and all."

The other man snorted, "That's good to know."

Naruto rolled his eyes, figuring Sasuke meant some type of snide comment and held back from starting a fight in the middle of this place right here and now.

At least he could jump him in the damn parking lot.

"So, did you ever find him?" The blonde asked after a few minutes of silence.

Naruto figured he asked the wrong question, and a part of him was disappointed that he might have done that, but at the same time he'd rather stay the same person who had supposedly moved on long ago.

"Yeah, I did."

Blue eyes snapped to attention to the dead tone and felt his brow furrow in question. Sasuke always had _some_ type of emotion when he spoke to Naruto, and usually it was subtle to the extreme extent, but the blonde could always pick up on it.

There was nothing, so he decided to ask about it, "What hap-"

"Things. End of story."

Naruto snapped his mouth shut and ignored Ino when she dropped the plates off, usually saying the same thing about 'good food, fast service, and pretty help'.

Ino let her eyes shift in between the two and frowned, "Well, good luck and don't choke."

Sasuke's eyes followed the snappy, fuming blonde as she stomped around the corner before Naruto grabbed his attention with a small, irritated voice. "She likes to be complimented on her service."

The raven turned to his meal, his stomach barely grumbling in hunger while Naruto's roared to full strength. Sasuke grabbed his silver wear, his eyes absently flicking over to Naruto's plate before back to his own, and then right back to Naruto's.

Fucking nostalgia.

* * *

"You know something," Naruto began as he and Sasuke walked across the parking lot, "I don't get what's so damn great about being sixteen. We get to drive, big deal."

Sasuke snorted, "If you can ever past the test, dobe."

The blonde crossed his arms childishly with a pout while Sasuke politely opened the door, Naruto throwing over his shoulder, "I had to test out the test. Third time is _always_ the charm."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, breezing by coolly while Naruto loudly ran up to the counter to talk to Grandpa Sarutobi. The raven walked into the back, crossing through the entryway to the nonsmoking section and walking to the back table near the doorway of the kitchen.

Sasuke took his seat that he always took since the dobe began dragging him to the place and waited for whichever waitress to come and take their order that he knew by heart.

He did not, however, expect an admirer from the deepest pits of hell to come forth wearing the customary maroon shirts and latch onto his arm like she was some sort of tick.

"Sasuke!" Said man flinched at the squeal next to his ear, "How did you know I started working here!"

"Hn."

"What?"

"I _didn't_." He bit out. "I came with the dobe."

She loosened her grip, as if realizing she should be more professional, "Oh! Well, what can I get you to drink?"

"Black coffee, dip shit will have sweet tea with two tons of sugar." Sasuke looked towards the wall, trying to ignore her even though he had to pass along the order.

"Do you know-"

"He'll have the French toast with extra powder sugar, substitute the hash browns for a slice of pie." Onyx eyes flicked towards the ceiling.

"And you?" Ino asked after she scribbled down the order.

"The bastard?" Naruto flopped into his seat, "He's going to want eggs – scrambled – white toast, and fucking turkey bacon."

"Heart attack." Sasuke commented.

"Health nut." Naruto grumbled.

Ino blinked, slowly scribbling down the rest of the order before turning to walk away.

"So, teme, what are your plans for the weekend?" Naruto asked.

The raven sighed, "Going out of town."

Ino came back with the coffee and tea before Naruto could ask, and the blonde turned to the other with a sly smile, "Fast service, good food and pretty help. What more could they ask for?"

Ino giggled and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

How he would miss these moments.

* * *

Naruto took his last bite of pie and pushed the plate to the edge of the table and made to get up before Sasuke spoke again.

"In a rush?"

Blue eyes flicked up to the man pacing himself, as in, breathing between bites and chewing before swallowing.

The blonde settled back into his seat, "I was under the impression we both were."

"How long were you in the brig?"

"Excuse me?"

Naruto was under the impression that the man in front of him didn't give one damn about what had been going on in his life, and this question showed an iota of interest and he wasn't sure he wanted that.

"Twenty-four hours."

"Why did you join?"

"Why didn't you come back?" Naruto asked right back snappily.

The two of them looked at each other suddenly, as if Naruto hadn't expected to ask the question and Sasuke damn sure hadn't expected it.

The blonde set forth to clear the air, "I wanted to find my purpose…"

"Naruto, cut the bullshit." Sasuke cut, "Why did you join?"

The blonde stiffened before relaxing, "Maybe I don't know, asshole."

"And maybe I don't know why I didn't come back-"

"God Sasuke, I did it because of you, you dick. Maybe, I thought you didn't want to come back because of me, because your little 'boyfriend' was a fucking weakling. So yeah, I set the fuck out to be something. So, now that you've gotten your jollies off on my embarrassment, and now that Sakura has seen fit that we _haven't_ gotten into a fist fight, I'm going to go back to my base."

"Naru-"

The blonde stood, grabbing the chair that threatened to crash to the floor and snapped at the man across from him, "Oh would you just _choke_ on the damn food!"

Naruto stormed out of the back door without so much of a backwards glance.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Naruto threw the last article of clothing in his duffle bag before throwing up the zipper and roughly grabbing the bag while Tsunade lingered in the door.

"Naruto…"

"Please… Not. Right. Now."

"I want to make sure," The woman began, worry playing her features, "you come back home."

The blonde stopped in the doorway, lingering next to the woman before sighing roughly, "As of right now, we need to find a place to meet, because coming home isn't a damn option."

Naruto rushed down the steps and outside into the cool night air, wondering how long he stayed in his room and ignored the world till he deemed it safe to leave. The blonde eyed his truck and sighed at the thought of freedom, and felt a pang in his chest at the thought of begging Tsunade for forgiveness.

The blonde threw the duffle bag into the bed of his truck and made to turn around to go apologize to his aunt now, try and explain as best as he could with the least amount of details and as much bullshit why he couldn't come back right now.

When he turned around, he didn't exactly expect to see Sasuke sitting against the tree in his front yard patiently waiting for something.

"Did I not embarrass myself enough for you?" Naruto immediately turned around towards his truck, intent on calling Tsunade instead.

"Can I talk to you?"

"No, no you can't. You're just going to do some freak Jedi mind trick bullshit and get me to spill my stupid damn guts _again_. I'd rather fucking leave." Naruto began rounding the front of his truck before Sasuke grabbed on his shirt sleeve roughly and spun him around. Naruto blinked and tried to grasp on when he had gotten up and next to him so quickly.

"_That's good to know_. Couldn't you ask what _that_ means when it came out of my mouth?" Sasuke hissed and glared inches away from Naruto's face.

"Amuse me."

"It's good to know that _you_ haven't changed. You weren't weak, idiot. I didn't leave you, jackass. But the thought of coming back here and you were gone-"

"Enough." Naruto shot out weakly. "It took me so _long_..."

The blonde slid past the raven while admiring the ground, grabbing at the handle and yanking the door open.

Naruto didn't remember reaching the end of the street, reaching the end of town, reaching the highway, or so much as finally getting back to the base.

Naruto only remember the look on Sasuke's face, the usually impassive face, as he drove away.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Four months later, and the blonde still managed to find reasons not to come back home. He did however apologize to Tsunade, and heard her understanding more than once after Sakura was _kind_ enough to explain everything in full detail.

Tsunade did however promise to beat the two boys to a damn pulp if they didn't get over whatever it was they were going through so she could see her nephew again.

Sakura had texted Naruto the raven's number too many times to count, so many times that the blonde had the number memorized. So many times Naruto had eventually added it to his phone book, just to make Sakura happy of course.

Naruto got to see his friends a few times when they found a place to meet as a halfway point, and the blonde made a clear warning that if Sasuke was invited he wouldn't talk to anyone again.

When Tsunade showed up with Grandpa Sarutobi, he was ecstatic, but when Kakashi showed up two hours late rambling about 'little old ladies and good citizens' he almost called it a day. It was nice, he had to admit, to get hounded by the adults like he was a kid again and not by a bunch of higher ups that were screaming at him like death was going to wash over him.

When his friends visited, well…

He and Kiba were promptly thrown out of a Denny's after promising a waitress the night of her life. He and Shikamaru spent an entire afternoon lying on a hill looking at clouds. He challenged Sai to a fist fight after the man called him 'dickless' for the seventeenth time that one particular day, and before noon.

He ended up getting dragged on a shopping trip with Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Temari and swore to himself that if someone showed him the color pink in the next six months he would die. He spent more time with Gaara, and the three siblings, before the man shipped.

This one particular Thursday afternoon though, finally made him realize that Sasuke Uchiha and their trivial problems were the least of his worries.

"Uzumaki, sir?"

The blonde turned at the question instead of the statement, and tried to think of something clever until he saw the frown on the face of the Marine.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry sir. I was ordered to tell you sir." The man shifted and handed off an envelope, "Word just came in, Gaara Sabaku was KIA sir."

Then, the world stopped spinning.

* * *

Author's Note: So…Jen told me I could kill someone. I know I'm feeding off the impression I don't like Gaara, in fact, he's one of my fav's. Odd, right? Somewhere, there is an awkward method to my over-the-top madness. (In which you all secretly love.)


	5. Hollow Inside

Chapter Five: Hollow Inside

Author's Notes: Can I just quickly state I know her hair is red, that's why I wrote it in as red, I was just stating I _heard_ it was different colors. No, her name still doesn't need to be thrown out there because I know people who _don't_ read the manga and read my stuff.

For Jen – Thank you.

Chapter Five: Hollow Inside

(Please excuse bad mistakes, my mind is in a different place)

* * *

It was amazing how things could fall apart so suddenly.

How someone, who was like your brother, could be ripped from your grasp unwillingly so without a proper goodbye.

Naruto glanced down at the intricate uniform and fought to ignore the empty feeling that plagued him, drowned out the words that the man was saying, and absently snapped to attention when the Marines' Hymn played. He held in a sigh when he heard the rest do the same, and wondered absently if people were staring at something that was like an obscure tick for them. He was wondering when he could see Temari and Kankuro again before they headed back off to Suna. He was wondering, past the hollow feeling, when the hell he could be alone. He wondered if he even wanted that.

There were moments where he could feel himself about to crack and shatter and fall apart, and at a moments notice, all his training held him together.

He didn't remember leaving the funeral. Luckily, he didn't remember all the eyes on him as he walked off with his fellow Marines'. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered giving what could be considered a speech to Temari and Kankuro about pride and honor and something about love. He told them, firmly, he lost a brother too. He barely remembered holding Temari after that. He _did_ remember to tell them to call him, everyday, and he would help them through their most difficult time. They would stay in contact no matter what.

Naruto had no idea how or when he got home. Tsunade made him ramen, and for the first time in known existence, he refused to eat.

The blonde made his way back outside in the cool night air and stared up at the starlit sky with broken eyes, and he just knew…

Naruto absently pulled his phone from wherever he tucked it, ignoring the warning from his phone that he had _several_ missed calls from _several_ concerned friends, and went to the contacts.

He scrolled blindly, knowing every name by heart save for the new name that would be out of place and he could fall onto it easily.

The person he just needed to see right now.

His thumb grazed the call button before pressing the phone to his ear, his eyes still unseeing at the sky while his mind still blared with unwanted thoughts until the voice reached his ears.

"_Dobe_?"

Naruto snorted as his eyelids closed themselves, blinding the hurt man from the world, "It's funny teme, I never would have imagined you could have a tone of concern."

"_Where are you_?" Sasuke's voice was light, and almost tender; unlike himself in everyway.

"Home." Naruto breathed out in a sighing huff.

"_Out front_?"

Somewhere, Naruto knew what the question entailed. Maybe it was the part of him that had known Sasuke inside and out and like that back of his own hand – the part that refused to change, but at the same time, he was afraid he would be wrong.

He didn't know why it frightened him not to know the jackass so well anymore.

"Yeah, I'm already there."

"_I'm right around the corner dobe. Don't move_."

Naruto didn't bother saying goodbye, and figured Sasuke was right around the corner because he was on his way home from the gathering, or whatever the hell it is called.

The blonde fidgeted in the dress blues uniform he hadn't changed out of, and continued to stare at the twinkling sky and let his eyelids crash down to fight the onslaught of tears that finally came running forth. He had been fighting with the prickling sensation at the back of his eyes since he heard, ignoring the tightness of his throat, and denying the clenching that swore to vomit any second.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew this was allowed. He knew it showed he cared deeply for his friend, but the part that fought to be a Marine told him otherwise.

When he felt the arms wrap around him gently, and the two hands go to sooth him in manners of stroking his hair and rub his back, he instantly sunk into the man he just knew to be Sasuke.

This was the man who he fought to prove in every aspect of his life that he was far from weak, and he felt like this was contradicting it in every sense of the word.

He couldn't help it.

He was in pain, it hurt too much to hide, and it hurt too much to hold in anymore.

It took him awhile to return the embrace while they stood there in the darkness of comfort, and Sasuke soothed him silently and completely unlike himself.  
Naruto knew it was a first, he could tell in the awkwardness of the hold and the touches, but he wasn't going to fight it.

Bright blue eyes leaked silently onto a pitch black suit before he felt the slightly taller man pull back barely after standing there for an unknown length of time, and he felt his heart sinking at the thought of the comfort leaving him.

Naruto opened his eyes when Sasuke's forehead rested against his, and his breath stuttered out from strain from holding back the tears and sobs, and he finally let himself stare into black pools that gently stared back.

It was odd, Naruto thought, to see actual emotion in eyes that always seemed indifferent and closed off but something about it felt right.

The blonde blinked tired, tear filled eyes and whispered through the choking tears, "Please stop this bullshit. I can't stand this…" Naruto pulled away a hand to rub at his chest before returning it to Sasuke's side.

Their noses brushed when Sasuke shuffled his feet and their foreheads rubbed tenderly while his breath swept over the tan face that was twinkling with tears of hurt.  
Pale hands moved up to cup a tan face swiftly, suddenly. Two thumbs began to wipe away trails of tears over and over as new tears fell, and then, Sasuke whispered.

"Naruto…It's going to be okay. I swear."

The blonde choked. He'd swear, to his dying day, it was because the bastard in front of him said something instead of '_Hn_'. That he said '_Naruto_' instead of '_Dobe_'.

But it would be a lie.

"I'm here. For you. And I won't leave, I promise."

The blonde choked on a sob, and his head dropped at the force of tears and a choke while his hands gripped to the side of the expensive suit that Sasuke was wearing.  
Naruto felt lips press against his forehead that had slipped down roughly against Sasuke's face, and he leaned against the warm feeling and comfort that the lips presented and quietly cried.

While Naruto tried to fall apart, Sasuke held him together.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"…That's how we met." Naruto grinned lightly, after recalling the story of meeting Gaara and his family.

Sasuke had silently listened to the entire thing, letting the blonde get his mind off the pain and focus on the good times of something that was once easier to think about.

"Remember our first fist fight?" Naruto questioned on the back porch suddenly, intent to not let the silence set in.

His eyes were bloodshot and swollen, and his dress blues now hung in the closet upstairs in exchange for a bright orange t-shirt and baggy basketball shorts. His hair was worse than anyone expected it could get, color had drained slightly from his face, and lines of worry were set.

Sasuke turned, his hair slightly messy from his hands running through it so many times, his suit jacket abandoned and his shirt untucked and untidy.

Naruto heard a snort, "Yeah dobe, I remember. So does all of Konoha."

"Why, because the prince bastard got his ass kicked?"

Sasuke scoffed, "No, because everyone could hear king dobe bitch all the way home after getting suspended."

The blonde turned, a hand coming to run along a tan, scarred cheek, "Do _you_ live with Tsunade, because Kakashi is a damn cake walk."

Naruto snorted at his own joke, remembering an excuse Kakashi had used when coming into work late one day at school involving cakes and a crosswalk…

"He died…" Sasuke said quietly.

Sasuke knew things needed to change now.

Naruto turned to look back at Sasuke, and then to the back door of his house, and then back to Sasuke.

"Uh, no. If I could recall, Kakashi was at the ceremony and then here to try to make a sad attempt at cheering me up."

The raven looked the other way, "My brother."

The blonde immediately paused in reaching for his beer and let his eyes slowly flicker up to the man who sat in the chair next to him. It was unexpected, yes. It wasn't like Sasuke to open up, a-duh. But the fact that he was willing to do it despite the circumstances made his heart rate double.

Naruto situated himself back in the long, low sitting chair and waited for Sasuke to continue, angry at himself to be so willing to focus on the Uchiha's agony to get his mind off of his own.

"When I left…" Sasuke hesitated, and Naruto flinched, and they both knew it was about leaving without a word, "It was only a whisper about where he was."

"What happened after…?"

It had always been touchy subjects between them with their own parents' deaths. They just knew because they heard, but never asked in detail or anything of the sort. It was a silent agreement they enjoyed.

Sasuke turned to face forward in his chair, his eyelids closed almost peacefully as if he was watching a movie play out for him to retell so Naruto could see.

"After my parents were murdered," Naruto blinked out towards the back lawn, and then tried to wrap his head around that first initial opening statement, "And after the trials, Itachi ran away."

"Trails…?" Naruto mentally cursed at his mouth that had a mind of its own.

"Everything. Who did what, who went where, and who got everything and so on. Itachi ran."

Naruto nodded, and even though Sasuke wasn't looking at him, he knew the bastard would know and keep talking.

"When I finally found him," Sasuke paused, "Well, it took years. Itachi finally agreed to talk to me. We agreed to go out to eat and talk over dinner."

Naruto turned, and he just knew what was coming.

"We were walking across the street, and the driver didn't notice us when he was fiddling with his radio." Naruto shut his eyes, "I watched him…"

"So," Sasuke continued on, "I came back. And you were gone…"

Naruto took a deep breath in, "When I was little, my parents were in a car accident."

"Naruto…" Sasuke warned, but a tan hand was held up to silence him.

"I don't remember much of it. I had stayed home with Tsunade that day because," Naruto rubbed at his cheeks with his hands, "I had been in an accident of my own."

The raven frowned and opened his mouth to silence the blonde, but Naruto's loud mouth once again was too much.

"It was a car accident. They were at the stop light up the street, almost home. They went to the store to get antibiotics for me, and ramen to make me feel better. My dad was going to come home to do paper work and my mom was going to come home to start dinner. A car rammed into the back of them when it couldn't stop in time, and they were shoved into the middle of the intersection. The next day I met a little bastard with one fucked up complexion."

Sasuke looked over to see Naruto rubbing absently at his chest before the raven reached over and tugged on the free hanging tan wrist.

Naruto's neck groaned at the motion of a quick snap while he watched Sasuke motion him over in silence with a light head movement. Silently, he got up and took two steps over, turned and sat on the edge of the chair.

Naruto listened to one light sigh, and then another, and then one more, and finally had enough. "Spit it out Uchiha. You trying to talk is like me going through life without ramen."

The blonde felt a hand on his shoulder and turned, and then eased back when he felt the slight tugging. It was awkward, the shuffling, trying to work their way to make it so the two of them could fit on the chair together so they could sit back with their legs stretched out.

Naruto looked to his right, squinting into the dark as if he was trying to find something in particular while Sasuke glared towards his left at nothing at all.

Sasuke's arm was around Naruto's shoulders so the two could fit more comfortably, and their sides were pressed together, and the blonde even took it upon himself to toss a tan leg over a dark slack.

"Were you deployed?"

Naruto blinked slowly, "_Yes_," he dragged out.

"Hn."

"Everyone is in their first four years."

"So," Sasuke bit, "You risked your life to prove something to me?"

"I…uh…well…" Bright blue eyes turned to meet slits of black.

"Damn you dobe, I could kill you myself." Sasuke growled.

But Naruto caught the hurt and the sadness that he didn't know how to chase away, not when he was battling with his own overwhelming sense of.

Naruto sighed, turning away, "I think I'm ready for bed."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It took them a moment or two to get off of the chair. It wasn't the fact that neither of them wanted to leave the comfort of the other's warmth or the other's side, but it was the simple fact that it was just damn difficult. Yeah, so Naruto forgot how difficult it was to get up from those damn sun bathing chairs Tsunade just loved, but Sasuke easily remedied the problem.

He shoved Naruto off and got up with perfect Uchiha grace.

The raven smirked when he listened to Naruto whine and complain, yelling at him obnoxiously about something that didn't even have to do with getting pushed onto his face, and then asked for a cup of ramen.

Sasuke smirked lightly, almost pulling into a grin as they walked through the back door, and knew Naruto was still trying to keep his mind off of everything.  
So, the Uchiha made him a cup of ramen – three – and asked simple small questions in the mean time to have the blonde keep talking through every available second.

"I mean, what fun is that?" Naruto slurped up more noodles, "Sitting at a damn desk all day long typing? _Bor-ing_. And let me tell you, there is _nothing_ to do on base."

"Hn."

"I know!" Naruto continued, decoding, "I mean, I would love to just be a damn recruiter. I mean, my recruiter and I used to just play damn video games all the time. And you should have seen him trying to get Ga-"

Naruto cut off his own sentence and looked away, pursing his lips before gnawing on his bottom one. Again, he reached up and rubbed at his chest before he felt a hand take it away, and looked up to see Sasuke standing in front of him.

"Don't stop talking about him dobe, even if it hurts. Be proud he was your friend, and don't let the memories fade."

Naruto looked down at his lap, ignoring that their hands were still clasped together in mid air, and let out a breathy laugh. "You sound like…you've said that a few times."

"Hn."

The blonde got up at the tug on his hand, and followed it through the house even while he stared at the floor. He knew every spec of dust in the place, and so when Sasuke was trying to find the way to his room and struggling, he helped.

"Left. Up the stairs, then a right."

They slowly walked, and Naruto ignored the voices of the visitors still lingering in the living room as they walked through, but simply followed as Sasuke led the way silently.  
Naruto slowly followed the way up the stairs, and absently followed Sasuke in to his own bedroom and grumbled at the snort he heard.

"Shut up, teme. It's a damn good color."

"Hn." Sasuke moved his hand away when Naruto moved around him.

"I clean it! Sometimes…when I'm home…maybe." The blonde turned around and stared in waiting, looking around and expecting Sasuke to make his leave.

Sasuke shook his head, and Naruto followed the long raven bangs that swayed at the motion, "I told you dobe, I'm not leaving."

"Well you sure as shit aren't sleeping with me!" Naruto snapped irrationally.

One eloquent eyebrow rose, "I got that, dobe. I'll sleep on the floor. Could you dig me out a trench in all this mess while I go find extra pillows and blankets."

Sasuke distinctly heard the stomp of a foot as he left the room to the linen closet in the hallway, but ran immediately into Tsunade and a herd of Naruto's friends.

The raven looked around Tsunade briefly before looking back at the woman, "Hn."

Her stern features instantly softened as the group of adults huddled around her to listen in on the conversation, "How is he?"

"Upset."

The woman nodded, turning to the closet and opening the door and making the others move, "Did he eat much?"

"Three cups."

Tsunade pulled out a stack of blankets and piled on pillows with a light smile playing on her lips, "Does he need anything?"

Sasuke paused in reaching for the things that was being handed to him before acting like the small action didn't happen, and took the things with a small nod of thanks, "Not to be alone."

"Then thank you."

Sasuke turned on his heel with a smirk and a shake of his head as he heard the busty blonde shoo away the group of friends and tell them to come back another day.

The raven turned into Naruto's room to find the blonde stretched out on his bed with his arms behind his head, the floor as clear as it could get on the right side of, and blankly staring at the ceiling.

"Stop thinking, dobe. You'll hurt yourself."

The blonde shuffled a little on his bed while Sasuke began laying things out of the floor, and then grabbed the shorts than Naruto had sat on the edge of the bed for him. The Uchiha changed quickly and quietly and felt relieved to be out of the uncomfortable slacks.

Sasuke laid on the ground and reached a hand up and shut the bedside light off before he heard Naruto toss over on his side and looked up to see the blonde hanging his face over the side of his bed.

"You know dobe, you're looking border-line horror movie right now."

Naruto blinked his blue eyes owlishly through the dark, "Were you lying?"

"No, jackass, you look-"

"No, teme." Naruto cut sharply with a harsh sigh, leaving Sasuke to smell ramen, "About earlier?"

"Hn."

"I always have to repeat myself," Naruto rolled his eyes before pausing, "Just…are you sure it will be okay? That this will stop and everything will be okay?"

Naruto's fingers skimmed the hardwood floor absently before Sasuke's fingers entangled them with his own, "Yes dobe. It's going to hurt, and it's going to be hard, but it will be okay."

The blonde smiled through the dark at the gentle squeeze he felt on his hand, and opened his mouth, intent on saying thank you before Sasuke continued on.

"I promise I'll make it easier for you. Now go to sleep, Naruto."

Blue eyes disappeared underneath eyelids, and the blonde hummed, "Thank you Sasuke."

Tsunade slipped in two hours later when everyone finally trickled off, a photo album underneath her arm to drop off on Naruto's dresser. She smiled as she placed the photo album down on the dresser and turned towards the two grown men and fought back a giggle.

Naruto's arm hung off his bed, his body turned the opposite direction and his legs tangled in his sheets. Sasuke's fingers were still entangled with Naruto's while he faced the opposite direction himself, and the two of them slept peacefully and calmly.

She snorted as she closed the door behind her.

They even refused to let go of each other in their sleep.

* * *

Author's Notes: As for updates, they will most likely be slowing. I do suggest you all keep an eye on my profile. Things with my mom aren't looking good, and if I up and disappear, I'll try to post it in there.  
And I don't care he got his scares when he was an infant. My story - AU, get over it.


	6. With You Always

Chapter Six: With You Always

Author's Notes: _Final Chapter, that's that. I never intended this thing to go on forever. I wanted something short and sweet for my Jen Jen.  
And guys… it's not the Army, or the Navy, or the Air Force… it's the _Marines_. Yes, Marines serves under the Navy, but… there is still a damn difference.  
_  
Warnings(?): I wanted to say that I'm sorry (that's a lie) for never telling anyone that there is a character death. I was just doing what my Jen Jen wanted, and well… I forgot about warning everyone else. SO, in this chapter I kill everyone else. No! I'm kidding. Fluff… lots of fluff. You'll choke on it. I needed cuteness.

For Jen - ;( and not to mention XF… yeah, I know you're laughing.

Chapter Six: With You Always

* * *

"Pentagon, huh?"

The blonde pulled a smile, "Yeah, the Pentagon."

"So, the brat is going to be trusted doing work at the pentagon when I can't even trust him to clean his own room. The world is doomed." Tsunade laughed.

"Hey, I cleaned the damn thing!" Naruto stomped his foot irrationally.

"Yeah, brat, more like _cleaned_ _it out_."

A snort came from the group somewhere, "You'd think after he retired from the Military, he'd go run Ichiraku."

Blue eyes glared, "Yeah Kiba, that's a big retirement thing from the Military. I get offered a job with the Department of State, Department of Defense and you think all I can land is the ramen hut."

The man shrugged with a smile, while Sakura spoke, "I kinda' figured you were going to be a 'lifer'. You know, you just seemed so damn dedicated. And you got the job you wanted after reaching the rank you needed."

It was Naruto's turn to shrug after taking a stack of clothes from Tsunade who had taken them from Kakashi who had taken them from Grampa Sarutobi.

"I prefer the civilian part of Department of Defense work, you know? That way I won't be in the middle of my paperwork and they issue me to go to war."

Hinata frowned, "For a third time."

The blonde frowned, "Two times. That's it," He ran a hand tenderly threw her hair, and Kiba didn't even flinch. "I came back safe and sound."  
"Or get stationed at some far off place again, dickless." Sai reminded in a drone voice with his plastic smile.

Naruto shoved the clothes in a box with the help of Temari while Kankuro wrapped his trophies, and Shikamaru even spared energy to pull things off shelves and put them in boxes as well.

"Look, I was only halfway around the world for a year. Or are you all admitting you missed me?" Naruto righted himself with his hands on his hips, a cheeky grin on his lips.

Everyone managed to find something soft to throw, save for Ino who threw her shoe.

The troop of friends and family managed to get all of Naruto's boxes outside in half a trip while the guys stayed behind and started on his furniture.

Naruto eyed the familiar car that had parked behind his truck, and calmly walked up to his vehicle and opened the door to put the box of breakables upfront with him.

The blonde smiled when he felt strong arms wrap around his midsection, and leaned into the broad chest and smiled at the familiar scent that was Sasuke.

Naruto's rough tan hands ran over silky smooth arms that hugged his torso snuggly, and smiled.

Retiring was worth it.

* * *

Naruto dropped his keys on the table just inside the door and shouted, his voice carrying through the house. "I'M HOME!"

A blonde head poked out from around the corner, Tsunade's glare disappearing at the sight of her nephew, "Brat! What a surprise!"

Boots hit the hardwood floor roughly as he crossed the room while his aunt came around the corner, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. The two shared a hug, the woman pulling him back and looking him up and down.

"It's damn good to see you!" She turned, motioning him to follow, "I thought I'd just be stuck with phone calls for the rest of my life since you ranked up."

The blonde smiled as he dropped into a dining room chair and watched Tsunade go back to making the dinner, wincing when she began adding more ingredients and felt bad he hadn't called ahead of time.

"Sorry, Granny…Things to do you know."

She turned halfway, her eyes still on the pot and pan in front of her and smiled, "So, how was the traffic. Memorial Day is a pretty crazy time for you to visit."

Naruto smiled, propping his head up on his hand, "Yeah, but, I have an announcement to make at dinner. How long till grub time?"

The woman clucked her tongue, "About an hour. Jiraiya is going to be over to work the grill, and all your friends will be here too. I suppose Kakashi will show up sometime after we all eat. And I'll send you over to grab Gramps."

Naruto smiled, "And I'll go grab one more person…"

-0-0-

The blonde continuously slammed his finger down on the button, turning to look around the wide front yard while he waited, and waited, and waited, until finally…

One of the double front doors slammed opened to revile a rather irritated looking Sasuke, "What in the…!" He sighed, "Idiot…"

Naruto grinned, relieving the doorbell of its annoying duties, "Hello to you to bastard."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke's tone was still irritated as he leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. In all honesty, he was excited. It had been awhile since Naruto had gotten leave and came home.

"Thanks. Good to see you to."

The man sighed, "Last I talked to you three days ago, you weren't sure when you were going to be able to come home again."

The blonde waved him off with a tan hand, "I needed to do some shopping, and I'm recruiting you."

A delicate dark eyebrow rose, "Shopping? How gay can you get dobe?"

The blonde blushed, "_No_ asshole. Stuff for a house. I need a guy there to help me lift heavy furniture. But if your fairy ass doesn't want to break a nail-"

"House?"

"I'm moving." Naruto said. He made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world, throwing Sasuke a look in the '_no-duh_­' sort of fashion.

"They're stationing you somewhere else?" Sasuke lifted himself off the doorframe, desperately trying to hold on to the impassive mask.

But, the blonde snorted, and it slipped. Sasuke scrunched his face into confusion.

And then, Naruto's tone lightened, his smile became bright and light.

"Surprise, Sasuke. I retired from the Military."

-0-0-

When it came time for Naruto to reenlist, he had already been thinking about it for two years since he had gone back home after his eight month absence. Things needed to change. Sure, the Military was his life, and he knew even when he retired, it was going to stay that way. Deep down, he always thought he was going to be a lifer, but something changed all that.

Or someone.

In the two years he had till his contract came back up, Naruto spent a lot more time going back home. He watched his world began to spin to life once again. Well, in the year he had till he was re-stationed. He watched couples form around him. Tsunade and Jiraiya finally got together. He silently voiced his agreement with Cupid as he would watch his aunt hit her boyfriend with inanimate objects for groping her inappropriately.

He watched as Shikamaru asked Temari out with a shrug, a yawn, and a lazy wave of the hand; to his amazement she blushed and agreed. Kiba and Hinata had gotten engaged. Even Sakura settled for a date with Lee, and Naruto was terrified to see Cupid as shot his arrow that way, absently wondering if the little cherub was drunk.

He spent most of his time with Sasuke though, as he came down to visit, and silently watched his own love grew in front of his own eyes. He remembered when Sasuke grabbed his hand and held it all the way through the movie they had gone to see. Two weeks later, he remembered the kiss they shared. A month later, his heart soared when Sasuke asked him to date him again.

Three months later, _I love you_ was passed around. On and on it progressed, and on and on Naruto's Military career continued.  
And so, when Naruto's contract came up for reenlistment, he knew that some things must come to an end, so other things could truly begin.

* * *

Naruto turned in the embrace, smiling up at the heavenly face of the man he loved, "Hey bastard."

What an awkward love it was.

"You're early," Naruto grinned, "Can't live without me?"

"Hey! Naruto! Detach from your boyfriend and help move your own shit!" Sakura shouted from the front porch.

Sasuke smirked as his fingers traced scars on a tan cheek, "What happened to don't ask, don't tell dobe?"

The blonde flashed a smile, "Firstly, this would be more like," Naruto spared a chaste kiss, "_Show_ and tell."

Sasuke snorted with an eye roll.

"And besides, let any and everyone ask now, because I'm ready to tell the world."

"Because you can." Sasuke reminded lightly, kissing each scar on each cheek while holding the sides of his neck.

Naruto pulled back, attempting to glare at the raven, "Because I _want_ to."

The raven smiled gently, his lips rubbing against rosy lips, "Then let's go tell the world."

The blonde smiled, "Fine with me, but I've been waiting three months to get out of here so I can start my job, and I kinda want to get the fuck out…so let's start then."

Sasuke chuckled with a shake of his head, "Dobe."

"Teme."

* * *

Naruto tugged on the black tie with a grimace as he laid his hand on the horn when a rather disgruntled driver decided to cut him off. He glared at the '_Proud to be a Marine_' sticker on the car. He'd shove his happily retired foot up a very proud ass, that was for damn sure. The blonde sighed roughly, grinding his teeth together and slamming his finger on the radio to silence the annoyance.

He _knew_ the road was backed up, he _knew_ the traffic was bumper to bumper and damn it all he _knew_ he wouldn't be home till later.

Same damn thing day in and day out.

He laid his head back harshly against his head rest wondering why in the hell he decided to move away to take this job. He wondered, again, why in the hell he decided to not reenlist in the military and just become a damn lifer.

Really, the military was easy. Someone told you what to do, they practically dressed you, they fed you, they paid you; what was wrong? Now, here he was with this complex job with this crazy commute living in '_Leave it to Beaver_' land. Naruto hated the new suburbs he lived in. It was damn creepy. All the lawns, houses, cars - _exactly_ the same -and he stuck out with everything.

Again, he wondered as he took the off ramp and cursed when he was met with a red light and a line of cars, why he retired.

He couldn't drive home on the weekends, he was constantly working to the point he barely had time to talk to his friends or relatives, and in all of that he had moments where he didn't understand why he retired.

The blonde pulled into the driveway, locking eyes with a jet black car and smiled warmly at the thought of who waited him inside.

It was starting to come back to him now.

Naruto pushed the front door opened and went straight to the dining room like he did every week day to find Sasuke sitting at the table with a pile of papers spread out in front of him.

The raven looked up and spared a gentle smile, "Tie bothering you again? Or just the drivers?"

The blonde walked over and slumped into the seat next to the calm and impassive raven, locked eyes and sighed, "Can't we just go with both?"

"Six months here and you'd think you'd be used to the drivers." The raven chuckled as he turned back to his papers.

The blonde looked around randomly like he always did while Sasuke finished his paperwork, happy he wasn't allowed to take his home with him, and glad it was too classified. His eyes danced across pictures that occasionally hung on the walls and then stopped at the three that hung side by side.

The one that hung on the left was the last family photo Sasuke had in his possession. The one that hung on the right was the last picture Naruto took with his parents before their accident. In the middle, were Naruto and Sasuke. The blonde had his tan arm slung around broad shoulders, onyx eyes attempted to glare while petal pink lips pulled into the tiniest of smiles. A blonde head rested gently on a shoulder while a tan face was alight with a smile.

Naruto smiled quickly as he stared at the picture from the day he announced his retirement, and instantly remembered why. He turned to Sasuke whose brow was furrowed in concentration and chuckled under his breath.

It was worth it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Hey, Dobe?"

Naruto furrowed his brow at the question instead of the usual statement, "Yeah?"

"Can you come in here?"

The blonde eyed the news; one report was on the war and the other was something he was sure he was going to be hearing about at work in greater detail than the news could ever hope to imagine.

Naruto put down the remote on the arm of the couch and pushed himself up, his feet padded against the pale orange carpet that he had convinced Sasuke to get.

It was pale, so it could work.

He left the family room and went into the living room where Sasuke usually roamed doing what Naruto considered '_nerd things_'. He'd play chess with Shikamaru, or discuss politics with Gramps, and do his work occasionally when the kitchen table became too uncomfortable. And of course, when Naruto was watching something '_stupid_' on television, Sasuke immediately went to the other one.

As soon as Naruto walked in the room, arms wrapped around him and swept him into an embrace and a breath stealing kiss.

Naruto felt familiar hands; one cupped his left cheek while the other ran up to his back. The blonde wrapped his arms limply around the waist of Sasuke, pressing himself against him while the Uchiha did the same. He squeezed his eyes shut tight while their lips pressed together firmly and they desperately tried to merge together.

Sasuke pulled back, their lips barely smacking, and he rested his forehead against Naruto's with a smirk that threatened for a smile.

The blonde blinked away the surprise, and then let out a low whistle, "Whoa."

Sasuke chuckled, his hand that held a cheek moving into blonde hair, "I just wanted to tell you I love you."

The blonde smiled lightly, his eyes lighting up while he rose up on his toes to rub their noses together, "Sappy asshole…I love you." Naruto took in a deep breath, "_So much_."

"Now do it!"

The blonde snapped his head towards the hallway at the familiar ring of Sakura's whisper, wondering if she meant what the hell he thought by '_do it'._

He would _kill_ her.

Instead, he found a hallway full of his friends and family cramped together, leaning on each other and smiling and giggling and for the life of him he wondered why he didn't run for the hills.

He trained for these dangerous missions and something about this just screamed: _WARNING_.

The blonde turned back to Sasuke, Naruto's teeth grinding, and took a step back. The blonde barely held onto Sasuke's fingertips as he glared, "Teme…I swear if you're plotting my death in front of an audience I can-"

"I wanted to ask you, Naruto, if you would spend the rest of your life with me?"

The blonde sputtered, choking, and coughing while his eyes doubled in size at what he swore he heard, but what he swore had to be some type of joke.

"Come-come again?"

The group groaned. Some threw up hands and others cursed, and Hinata had to stop Kiba from throwing something he found on a table in the hallway.

"I'm not going to sit here and give you a long drawn out speech in front of everyone since they insisted," Sasuke turned to glare at them, silently promising their early deaths, "to be here. I want you to know that _I love you_, Naruto. And I don't want to be without you, and I want to spend the rest of my-"

Arms were thrown wildly around a pale neck, and Sasuke's sentence was cut off when Naruto began pecking his lips repeatedly and calling him things under his breath.  
_  
Crazy Bastard. Insane Asshole. Embarrassing Jerk._

Which soon turned into constant sayings of _I love you_.

"Say '_yes_' Naruto!" Tsunade barked.

The blonde pulled back from another kiss, his fingers raking through silky raven hair, his lips mumbling against petal pink lips. "Forever."

The raven nodded with the tiniest of smiles, "Always."

And of course, Kakashi actually being on time, had to comment and ruin the moment.

Clapping and gathering attention of most of the group, "_So_, when are we picking out Naruto's dress?"

The two half listened as Sakura and Tsunade yelled at Kakashi, while Kiba sided with the grayed man, and then Hinata had to stutter in at her fiancé about how rude he was being. Then they thought they heard Lee shout something about youth and dresses and frills or some shit. They were pretty sure Ino took on Lee. They might have heard Jiraiya put in his two words, and Shikamaru walked past them to the couch to sleep while Temari defend Naruto's manhood. Sai, of course, did not. Kankuro did. Gramps wondered of towards the dining room to sit at the table till everyone settled.

The two barely heard the war begin as they shared another breath taking kiss and floated away in their own little world.

Forever and always.

* * *

Author's Notes: The end. –throws confetti- Another complete fiction! Another fiction that I am more happy with than most.


End file.
